Everyone has great plans and ideas when they’re growing up. Some work and some don’t. For Stanley and me, our motto could have been “It seemed like a great idea at the time”. Unfortunately, judging by the outcome of most of our ideas, our theme song should have been the music from the Three Stooges. We never really learned from our mistakes. We just figured we’d done it wrong the first time and needed to try it again to get it right.

If you’ve ever buried your best friend while he was alive; if you’ve ever found yourself hanging from a tree limb knowing the only way you were going to get down was to fall; if you’ve ever had your hand stuck in a hole in a riverbank trying to catch a catfish, then these stories should bring back fond memories.

And if you haven’t, then welcome to the world of a couple of Okie kids in the 1960s.

In the days when kids could still roam the woods on escapades. When they slept outdoors without fear. Those days before ‘health and safety’ killed imagination and became a watchword for dull and boring.

Be warned, if you’re an animal lover, some creatures were harmed in the making of this life. Nature in the raw – tooth and claw – and a few bites and stings along the way…